Revising the Draft National Water Policy

By S Ramesh

The draft National Water Policy 2012 recommended that water other than that required for drinking and sanitation, be treated as an economic good. Subsequent revisions have ensured that the water requirements for food security and agriculture are also considered primary

Fan incident that occurred in 1995 remains fresh in my mind after all these years. A friend and I were shopping in a busy area in Coimbatore when a posh car stopped near us.Read More

Endangered rivers and biodiversity

By Parineeta Dandekar

Over 70 hydel projects are being constructed in the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi basins in Uttarakhand, adversely impacting over 9,000 hectares of forest land, the holy confluences of rivers and several wildlife parks. A Wildlife Institute of India report recommends that 24 of these projects be scrapped

If you want to visit the Valley of Flowers National Park or the Nandadevi Biosphere Reserve in Uttarakhand, plan it this August. If you want to see the Alaknanda and Mandakini rivers en route to Kedarnath and Badrinath, do it soon.

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More Himalayan follies

By Kannan Kasturi

The new 'United Nations World Water Development Report 3' carries alarming warnings about the impact of glacial melts in the Himalayas. But over 450 hydropower projects are being planned in the Himalayas without taking the consequences of climate change into account, says a report from International Rivers

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To each according to his needs

By Anup Sharma

In villages along the Indo-Bhutan border in lower Assam, where the deepest wells are dry, communities rely on the traditional dong community water-harvesting system which operates on sound principles of water management and judicious distribution

If one were to ask any villager along the Indo-Bhutan border for a glass of water, he is likely to get you a glass of milk instead. Water is one of the most precious commodities in the 200-odd villages here, spread over roughly 300 sq km.

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Self-help brings two drought-prone UP villages to life

By digging canals themselves, villagers in drought-prone Lalitpur district, Uttar Pradesh, have begun raising two crops a year and have doubled their income.

Depleting water, whether in towns or villages, and lack of water augmentation measures on the part of the government has pushed some communities into coming up with their own solutions to the water crisis.

In Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh, communities are organising to bring water from government canals to their fields, by digging channels.

Future Shock: Annual Per Capita Water Availability is on the Decline in India

Status of Coverage of Habitations under Rural Water Supply

Water Resources : Background & Perspective

At Independence, only 6% of rural India had access to safe drinking water. That figure has gone up to 82%. The per capita availability of renewable freshwater in the country, however, has fallen drastically over the last 50 years. The water table is rapidly falling with unregulated over-exploitation of groundwater. By 2025, water scarcity in India will be acute. And big dams, mega river-linking projects or privatised water distribution may not help.